Former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs has ruled himself out of the running for the vacant Swansea manager's job, with the club confirming Leon Britton will take charge of Saturday's game against Crystal Palace.

Giggs has been linked with the role along with Ronald Koeman, Tony Pulis and Louis van Gaal, after the Premier League's bottom club sacked Paul Clement.

With the Swans looking for a third boss in less than 12 months, Giggs was asked if he was interested in managing a club he was linked with before Bob Bradley was appointed in October 2016.

Asked why things had gone wrong at Swansea, Giggs speculated that the sales of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente in the summer had weakened the squad.

He said: "I don't know, I'm not in the club but obviously over the years [it has been] a really well run club, [who] play the right way and are an established Premier League team.

"But it's tough now, you see the teams down there. It gets tougher each year. They lost good players, didn't they? They lost Sigurdsson, they lost Llorente, and probably never replaced them. That's always a problem."

Clement had saved Swansea from relegation after being appointed in January but his departure was confirmed less than 48 hours after the 3-1 loss at Everton on Monday night -- Swansea's ninth defeat in 11 games.

He had hoped to be given funds by the club's American owners to strengthen the squad in the January transfer window but, after his side collected just 12 points from their opening 18 fixtures, has now been shown the door along with assistants Nigel Gibbs and Karl Halabi.

Swansea confirmed Britton's appointment on a caretaker basis in a statement and speaking at a news conference later on Thursday, the 35-year-old said: "Not at the moment. It is not to say I wouldn't take it in the future, but I just think at this moment in time it is not the right move for me.

"I've been asked to help the club out, which is something I will always do. But in terms of the immediate future, I am not looking to be the full-time manager."

In a statement issued later on Thursday, Clement spoke of his "great sadness'' at leaving the job and said: "When I arrived at Swansea City on the 3rd of January, the team had 12 points and were bottom of the league.

"Together we managed to achieve 29 points in 19 games, culminating in a 15th place finish and ensuring the club would compete in the Premier League for a seventh consecutive year. It was by far my proudest and greatest achievement as a coach.

"However, this season, in very challenging circumstances I was unable to replicate the positive results.''

Britton, speaking at a press conference streamed live on Swansea's official website, said he did not know when asked how long he thought he would be in charge for.

He added: "Speaking to the chairman [Huw Jenkins], it was a case of we'll go day by day.

"We have the Palace game and then I'll see where we are at. I don't know how far down the line they are in terms of the search for a new manager.

"Whether it's for the Liverpool game [Swansea's trip to Anfield on Boxing Day] or after, or into the new year, I think the most important thing is we get who the club feel is the right person for the job.

"We have to have confidence in the owners [Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien] and the chairman that they make the right choice. And I think it is an attractive job. We are bottom of the league but I still think it's a very good club.''

Britton spoke of the players needing to accept responsibility for their part in Swansea's predicament, and revealed he had had a "brief'' phone conversation on Wednesday evening with Clement, who he said was "naturally disappointed.''

Britton also said: "Obviously results weren't great, but I honestly thought he [Clement] was the right manager, with the way he was working.

"But in terms of a new manager -- what do we need at the football club? We just need to get back to basics, that confidence back and make sure as soon as possible we get some points on the board.''

Britton also revealed that the team will be without striker Wilfried Bony for the next two fixtures, against Palace and then Liverpool after the Ivory Coast international was forced to come off in the opening few minutes of Monday's 3-1 loss at Everton.

Britton said: "He's got a hamstring strain that he picked up at Everton and it will be about seven to 10 days, so we will see how we go with that.''

After the Liverpool match Swansea are at Watford on Dec. 30, and when asked about the prospect of Bony being involved there, Britton said: "Maybe he has an outside chance, but that might be pushing it.''

And when it was put to the 35-year-old that he could now pick himself, Britton said with a smile: "I can, but unfortunately I have a bit of a calf strain at the moment, so I'm out for Saturday.''